Gift and Capital Gains tax bags GH¢2.24million

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) collected GH¢2.24million as tax revenues from Capital Gains and Gift Tax within 2010.
This represents a 12.51 percent increase from the previous year's GH¢280,746.
The Head of Statistics at the Direct Tax division of the GRA Mr Jackson Berko, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview.
He said the contributions of both taxes to the Direct Tax account of the Ghana Revenue Authority in 2010 represented a 0.09 per cent of the GH¢2,441.33million collected by the account last year.
According to Mr Berko, taxes are difficult to collect and attributed the low revenue collected by the agencies to what he refereed to as "the unwilling nature of Ghanaians to tax payments".
 "Their yield is very discouraging. You know, in Ghana, no one is willing to pay taxes and these taxes depends heavily on the will of us Ghanaians to declare the gifts and disposed assets we've acquired within the year", he said.
Mr Berko observed that the cost of collecting these taxes is so high that it is discouraging  to deplore more staff into that area.
Both taxes oblige individuals, corporate entities and organisations to willingly make  15 per cent yearly payments on all assets and gifts that have been acquired and are valued to be above Gh¢ 50, as Capital Gains or Gift Tax depending on the situation.
The two taxes cover assets such as shares and bonds, buildings, business and business assets, all means of transport, chattle (hampers) , land, among others that have been acquired as gifts or disposed assets.
They, (both taxes) however, exempts properties acquired from family members as gifts or disposed assets valued above the Gh¢ 50 mark from attracting the 15 per cent charge as tax.
On the essence of both taxes, Mr Berko noted that those properties acquired as gifts or disposed assets are income to the receiver and must therefore attract tax.
 "The gifts or disposed assets are income to you the receiver and we (the direct tax unit) tax incomes that accrue to the individual", he explained.
 The interest rate chargeable on items acquired as gifts was initially 10 per cent but currently revised upward to 15 per cent as pertains to the Capital Gains tax.
According to Mr Berko, the upward adjustment in the rate chargeable on gifts to be at par with that of the Capital Gains  was necessary to help curb possible tax avoidance.
“The two,  Capital Gains and Gift Tax move in tandem. If people dispose assets or acquire disposed assets valued above Gh¢ 50, they are likely to say those properties were gifts because of the low tax rate placed on gifts, thus avoiding the tax".